Politicsobamacare glitchesPoliticsKathleen Sebelius

Kathleen Sebelius To Testify On Obamacare Glitches

Kathleen Sebelius To Testify On Obamacare Glitches
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Senior Politics Reporter, HuffPost

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WASHINGTON -- Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will testify before a House committee "as early as next week" on the glitches that have plagued the Obamacare health insurance website, HHS spokeswoman Joanne Peters told The Huffington Post Monday.

"We are in close communication with the committee and have expressed our desire to be responsive to their request," Peters said in a statement. "We fully intend for the Secretary and other HHS officials to testify before Congress as early as next week, as they have numerous times in the past, but nothing is confirmed at this time. We have always indicated to the committee that she intended to testify but that she had a scheduling conflict. We continue to work with them to find a mutually agreeable date in the near future."

House Republicans have been demanding that Sebelius testify in a Thursday House Energy & Commerce Committee hearing on the delays and error messages that people have been facing when they've tried to enroll in the health insurance exchange portion of the program. White House officials say the problems stem from a higher volume of participation in the website than expected, but top Republicans, including House Speaker John Boehner (Ohio), are insisting that Sebelius come explain the problems to them.

"Secretary Sebelius must ... appear at this week’s hearing in the House," Boehner said in a statement Monday. "With more than one trillion taxpayer dollars being spent on a completely defective program, Congress is going to get to the bottom of this debacle."

But Sebelius will be in Phoenix on Thursday, an HHS aide told The Huffington Post on background.

President Barack Obama said earlier Monday that there's "no excuse" for the technical problems that have surfaced with the website, and promised all Americans would have access to health coverage under his law.

UPDATE: 5:40 p.m. -- The House committee issued a press release later Monday announcing that several of the top contractors for the healthcare.gov website will testify at Thursday's hearing. CGI, Serco and Equifax have confirmed they will be there. Sebelius, meanwhile, is expected to testify on Wednesday, Oct. 30, per the committee.

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Before You Go

Health Care Reform Efforts In U.S. History
1912(01 of17)
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Former President Theodore Roosevelt champions national health insurance as he unsuccessfully tries to ride his progressive Bull Moose Party back to the White House. (credit:Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)
1935(02 of17)
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President Franklin D. Roosevelt favors creating national health insurance amid the Great Depression but decides to push for Social Security first. (credit:Keystone/Getty Images)
1942(03 of17)
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Roosevelt establishes wage and price controls during World War II. Businesses can't attract workers with higher pay so they compete through added benefits, including health insurance, which grows into a workplace perk. (credit:Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
1945(04 of17)
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President Harry Truman calls on Congress to create a national insurance program for those who pay voluntary fees. The American Medical Association denounces the idea as "socialized medicine" and it goes nowhere. (credit:Keystone/Getty Images)
1960(05 of17)
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John F. Kennedy makes health care a major campaign issue but as president can't get a plan for the elderly through Congress. (credit:Keystone/Getty Images)
1965 (06 of17)
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President Lyndon B. Johnson's legendary arm-twisting and a Congress dominated by his fellow Democrats lead to creation of two landmark government health programs: Medicare for the elderly and Medicaid for the poor. (credit:AFP/Getty Images)
1974(07 of17)
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President Richard Nixon wants to require employers to cover their workers and create federal subsidies to help everyone else buy private insurance. The Watergate scandal intervenes. (credit:Keystone/Getty Images)
1976(08 of17)
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President Jimmy Carter pushes a mandatory national health plan, but economic recession helps push it aside. (credit:Central Press/Getty Images)
1986(09 of17)
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President Ronald Reagan signs COBRA, a requirement that employers let former workers stay on the company health plan for 18 months after leaving a job, with workers bearing the cost. (credit:MIKE SARGENT/AFP/Getty Images)
1988(10 of17)
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Congress expands Medicare by adding a prescription drug benefit and catastrophic care coverage. It doesn't last long. Barraged by protests from older Americans upset about paying a tax to finance the additional coverage, Congress repeals the law the next year. (credit:TIM SLOAN/AFP/Getty Images)
1993(11 of17)
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President Bill Clinton puts first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton in charge of developing what becomes a 1,300-page plan for universal coverage. It requires businesses to cover their workers and mandates that everyone have health insurance. The plan meets Republican opposition, divides Democrats and comes under a firestorm of lobbying from businesses and the health care industry. It dies in the Senate. (credit:PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images)
1997(12 of17)
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Clinton signs bipartisan legislation creating a state-federal program to provide coverage for millions of children in families of modest means whose incomes are too high to qualify for Medicaid. (credit:JAMAL A. WILSON/AFP/Getty Images)
2003(13 of17)
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President George W. Bush persuades Congress to add prescription drug coverage to Medicare in a major expansion of the program for older people. (credit:STEPHEN JAFFE/AFP/Getty Images)
2008(14 of17)
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Hillary Clinton promotes a sweeping health care plan in her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. She loses to Barack Obama, who has a less comprehensive plan. (credit:PAUL RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images)
2009(15 of17)
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President Barack Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress spend an intense year ironing out legislation to require most companies to cover their workers; mandate that everyone have coverage or pay a fine; require insurance companies to accept all comers, regardless of any pre-existing conditions; and assist people who can't afford insurance. (credit:Alex Wong/Getty Images)
2010(16 of17)
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With no Republican support, Congress passes the measure, designed to extend health care coverage to more than 30 million uninsured people. Republican opponents scorned the law as "Obamacare." (credit:Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
2012(17 of17)
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On a campaign tour in the Midwest, Obama himself embraces the term "Obamacare" and says the law shows "I do care." (credit:BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images)
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